（Kimi会去LRGP的消息）初看毫无可能，理由有二：首先，车队似乎并不缺车手。其次，去年的这个时候当车队老板Eric Boullier把有可能签约Kimi的消息泄露给媒体的时候，Kimi就似乎对车队管理失去了耐心。Kimi认为车队在用他的名字进行炒作。

因此，当Kubica二月份受伤的时候——Kimi那时候是（车队）显而易见的选择——双方并未走到一起，Heidfeld取而代之成为雷诺的车手。公平的说，那时候距离WRC新赛季开始的时间所剩无几，Kimi会发现在那个时间重返F1也是很困难的。

但在F1一切皆有可能。巴西大奖赛前Kubica仍然无法在新赛季比赛，一切就变得明朗了。一场对双方都很有利的联姻很快就准备就绪，过去的问题都被抛诸脑后。

LRGP——明年将改名为Lotus车队——的底线是他们急需一位著名的车手。而失去了去Williams的机会却仍然想回到F1的Kimi需要一支起码能使他有机会登上领奖台的车队。

即便车队承认今年的赛车从根本上就存在缺陷，Heidfeld和Petrov依旧分别取得过一次第三，车队在车队积分榜上名列第五。

没有人能预测出2012年车队能给Kimi打造怎样的一辆赛车，这个大问题也困扰着他本人。一如既往，有不同的选择——人们要麼热爱Kimi，要麼——我不会用“讨厌”这个字眼，因为他从不是那种能引发如此强烈的负面情绪的人——不会花很多时间在他身上[无视他？]

问题在于冰人说他在成熟的同时一直都保持自我，虽然电视采访时没怎麼提及这点。他在人后的一些滑稽行径以及他出了名的喜欢在周日晚上比赛之后享乐一番，大多是因为他的国籍——芬兰人是第一个承认酒后低智商的民族。[囧死，这句完全不保证正确性。]

Kimi始终坚持私人生活是他自己的事，他在不处于低谷的时候表现更好。如果你一直在赢，那麼不会有人纠结你赛道外做错的事；问题是当你赢不了的时候，如果你无法像圣人那样生活，总会有指责扑面而来。

Kimi正打算努力摆脱他在F1最后几年的形象。2007年他拥有一个几乎完美无误的赛季，最后两站比赛前还落后17分，最终却打败了Alonso和Hamilton赢得了年度冠军。

[中间讲了一些08、09年的情况]
众人皆知车手需要所有的一切都契合他的需要之时才能发挥出最好的水平。坐进一辆破车，心知肚明车队正想方设法要把你踢掉，对任何人来说都是十分艰难的。[瞬间泪奔了！]

最后Kimi接受了法拉利的条款，对他来说离开F1一年比驾驶别的赛车更好。当时甚至有谣传说他会回到麦克拉伦，但毫不意外的是他还是选择了离开，那使得他能够追逐他儿时就有的对拉力的喜爱。

红牛在拉力比赛给他提供的赞助表明Kimi仍然有机会回到F1。方案之一就是Webber在2010年退役时，Kimi能取代他的位置，事实上去年我在摩纳哥见到Kimi的时候还跟他讨论过这个可能性。

意外在于就在那个周末，Webber在八天之内取得了他的第二个分站冠军，这使得他成为了世界冠军的争夺者之一。此后，他再不可能选择退休。今年早些时候他又续签了一年的合约。

[以下是简译：
失去了去红牛的机会，再拖下去很难再回到F1，Kimi必须在2012年回来，并未之后能驾驶更好的赛车而创造机会。Kimi对拉力的热情还在，但那和F1毕竟大不相同。]

他并不是舒适地躺在海滩上享受，他一直在享受的是激烈的竞争，而且处于非常高的级别。不同的规则下驾驶风格可能大不相同，但跑出赛道或是经历别的什么并没有坏处——在他在冰面以及泥泞的森林里那么多次打滑之后，能看看他的雨站技术提高了多少是十分有趣的事情。

Kimi离开F1的时候无疑是幻想破灭的。我们不能忘了他和索伯签约的时候几乎还是个孩子[这字眼太柔软了！]，对这个世界都没什么经验。一年后他进入了麦克拉伦，在那里他不仅是闪光灯聚焦的中心，还不得不应付丹尼斯古怪的管理[丹爸你被吐槽了有木有？！]。当他被扔到法拉利的时候，一开始还发展的不错，然而当Alonso要来的时候，他就成了多余的存在。对于一个只想单纯的享受驾驶的乐趣更愿意过着安静生活的人来说，这一切都太过多余。[要不要说的这麼辛酸啊魂淡！]

这两年的时间Kimi理清了自己的思路，在WRC和NASCAR之余他有时间去做他在F1期间永远都无暇去做的事情。他失去了他的父亲[我擦不带这麼戳人泪点的啊！摔！]，任何人都会因此放慢脚步，甚至可能转移重心。

他并不是必须要回来——他不缺钱，据说他会比以前赚得还更少一些。他回来是因为他想念F1。在NASCA中和其他赛车的竞争让他想起了他一直在想念的比赛。

他的体型保持的很好，他一直在驾驶，我们认为他的头脑也很清醒。他找到了一支真正需要他的车队[这话说的太虐了！]，也许我们可以假定他们会免除他一直痛恨的公关任务，当初正是这一点让他拒绝从法拉利回到麦克拉伦。

他还只有32岁，Hill在这个年纪才刚刚开始他的F1生涯。但是2009年的时候有KERS，而当初控制的前鼻翼的按钮如今已被用来操控尾翼。

他比你想象中更为聪明能接受新事物，如果他对自己的能力没有信心他是不会这麼做的。低估他会使你陷入危险。[这麼高的赞扬真的没有问题麼？！]

如果他真的能做到这一切，那就要考虑考虑在Lotus之后他能去哪里。鉴于那几个有名的车手都签了长期合约，几年之内都不会有太多和他同等级的车手能有自由身。他的合约决定了他可能就一直呆在一支车队……[好吧，最后这句真的没看懂orz]

In 2009 Ferrari built a pretty poor car for the new KERS era, and neither driver had much chance. More to the point, from a very early stage the team made it clear that Alonso was coming on board in 2010. It was in a three-into-two don’t go situation with Kimi and Massa also contracted, so much effort went into persuading Raikkonen that he should take a pay-off and walk away.

Everyone knows that a driver needs everything to be just right to be able to perform at his best. Getting into a car – a bad one at that – knowing that the team is working feverishly behind the scenes to turf you out would be tough for anybody.

The team was then turned upside down by Massa’s accident in Hungary, and Kimi was once again the main focus. He responded with a superb win at Spa – just what a good job he did with that car was demonstrated by how hopeless Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella were when they stood in for Massa.

In the end, Kimi took Ferrari’s pay-off. The way it worked it was better for him to step out for a year than drive another F1 car, as that would have compromised his severance package. There was even talk of a return to McLaren, but not surprisingly, Kimi preferred to walk away – and that tallied perfectly with the chance to pursue the interest in rallying that, as a Finn, he had inevitably held since he was a kid.

The appearance of Red Bull sponsorship on his rally car indicated that he still had a foot in the door in F1, and at one stage there was definitely a scenario whereby had Mark Webber stopped at the end of 2010, Kimi could have replaced him. Indeed I discussed that possibility with Kimi when he showed up in Monaco last year.

The snag was that on that very weekend Webber scored a second GP win in eight days and made himself into a title contender – and after that, retirement was never an option. And again earlier this year the Aussie added a further year to his deal.

So with the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne on the horizon, Kimi’s chances of a getting into a Red Bull began to recede. Not only that, but a third year out of the game would have made it proportionately harder for him to convince anyone to take him on. So he had to get back in 2012, in something, and possibly put himself in a position to step into a better car at a later stage.

It’s no secret that Kimi’s rallying ambitions didn’t quite pan out, but at the end of the day he wasn’t far off in a sport that is very different from the one he was brought up in. I understand that he also made quite an impression in the NASCAR world.

The point is he has not been lying on a beach, he’s been enjoying the cut and thrust of competition, and at a very high level. The style of driving might be very different in those disciplines, but it can’t hurt to have gone off and done something different – it will certainly be interesting to see how much his wet weather skills have improved after sliding around on ice and in muddy forests!

Kimi was obviously disillusioned when he left F1. Let’s not forget he was a kid when he signed for Sauber, with very little experience of the world at large. Within a year he was driving for McLaren, where not only was he in the spotlight, he had to deal with the quirky management of Ron Dennis. Then he was thrown into the cauldron at Ferrari, where initially he appeared to have thrived – only for the Alonso scenario to make him surplus to requirements. To someone who simply enjoyed the pure pleasure of driving, and preferred a quiet life, all the BS and double talk around F1 simply become too much.

He’s now had two years to clear his head, and in between the WRC and NASCAR commitments he’s doubtless found time to do other stuff, things that he never had time for within the relentless constraints of an F1 driver’s schedule. He’s also lost his father, and that would cause anyone to take stock and maybe change focus a little.

He didn’t have to come back – he doesn’t need the money, and one assumes he’s earning rather less than he did at his previous teams, possibly with a heavy accent on bonuses for performance. He’s coming back because he missed the racing, and it was intriguing to hear that, for all the joy he got from driving an WRC car on the limit, running with other cars in NASCAR reminded him of what he’s been missing.

He’s stayed pretty fit, he’s been driving all the time, and he – we assume – has pretty much got his head together. He’s also found a team that really wants him, and which one assumes, will shield him from the sort of PR duties that he always abhorred, and which helped to curtail any discussion of him going back to McLaren after Ferrari.

He’s also still only 32, an age when Damon Hill was only just starting his F1 career. He’s starting from scratch on the Pirellis, and inevitably, F1 has moved on in other ways. But he had KERS in 2009, and a button for the front wing which has now become a button for the rear wing.

He’s a far smarter and switched-on person that you might think, and he would not be doing this if he wasn’t confident in his abilities. Underestimate him at your peril.

And if he does show that he can get the job done, consider too where he might end up after Lotus. Given the long term deals all the big names are signing, not many drivers of his caliber will be free agents in a couple of years. Or depending on his contractual arrangements, possibly even in one...

Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

[0回]